Commissioner Justin Ford is in a tough re-nomination fight for his re-drawn County Commission seat. During the redistricting, the parts of South Memphis surrounding the family funeral home at Florida and South Parkway were taken from him and given to Commissioner Walter Bailey. Now, Ford's seat is primarily composed of Whitehaven and Westwood; while he is certainly known there, his strength is not as solid there as it was in South Memphis.
Add to that two fierce primary opponents in former MCS Board Commissioner Patrice Robinson and Memphis Education Association President Keith Williams, and the Commissioner faces the toughest campaign that he has had to face as a candidate.
All of that puts today's interesting development into context.
My phone blew up this morning with news that the Commissioner was planning to challenge Congressman Steve Cohen - as an INDEPENDENT. This would have enabled him to avoid a primary; however, it would not have looked good if he were a sitting Democratic elected official who was undermining another Democratic nominee, regardless if it were the incumbent, Steve Cohen, or one of his challengers..
Then, it turns out that the petition was pulled but never filed, and by what Ford described as a "community group" that was not happy with the list of Democratic candidates for TN-09 and wanted him to run. Ford was later quoted as saying that he may consider a Congressional run in two years.
UPDATE: This is being edited to reflect new information, stop here and go read Jackson Baker, who, as always, has the full details.
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